Sinn Féin is planning to bring forward a motion this week calling on the government to reduce electricity prices for households to their pre-Ukraine War levels of June 2021.
“The government can and must intervene to cut energy costs and the time to do that is now,” said Donegal TD Pearse Doherty.
Deputy Doherty will take part in a debate on the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday.
Sinn Féin’s motion also calls on the government to introduce an energy windfall tax on the excess profits of large energy companies without any further delay
Teachta Doherty said: “Households continue to pay sky-high energy bills – with electricity and gas bills more than double what they were two years ago.
“The government made a conscious decision last month not to provide any meaningful support for households with their energy costs until October.
“This was wrong. According to the CSO, households consume as much if not more electricity in the months of April, May and June as they do in October, November and December.
“Yet they will receive no support with these sky-high bills at a time when Saint Vincent de Paul reports that numbers unable to heat their homes more than doubled in 2022.
“It is reprehensible that energy companies are refusing to pass on significant savings made from wholesale electricity price reductions on to households.
“As workers and families continue to suffer, the government facilitated these massive profits with Minister Paschal Donohoe opposing windfall taxes and Minister Eamon Ryan opposing reform of the wholesale electricity market for months.
“They also made a decision not to reduce and cap electricity prices, despite governments all across Europe – in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere – doing just that.
“This is a sensible measure, adopted across Europe, which Sinn Féin called for in September.
“The government can and must act to cut energy costs now.”
